MRV Communications Chairman, Board Member to Resign

By Deborah Crowe
Originally published January 9, 2012 at 2:51 p.m., updated January 10, 2012 at 2:27 p.m.

Editor's Note: MRV Communications on Tuesday, Jan. 10 announced that another director, Michael McConnell, had announced his intention to resign effective Thursday, Jan. 12.

MRV Communications Inc., which last month saw its chief executive resign, said on Monday that its interim board chairman also was leaving the troubled Chatsworth company.

The provider of optical communications network equipment and related services said that interim Chairman Philippe Tartavull informed the company that he intends to resign, effective Jan. 13. No reason was given for his departure. Tartavull was appointed after Ken Shubin Stein resigned from the board in October.

As a result of Tartavul’s announcement, the company abruptly adjourned its annual shareholders’ meeting earlier today, and will reconvene on Monday, Jan. 16 to give stockholders more time “to consider this new development.”

The board early last month named Chief Financial Officer Chris King as interim chief executive following the departure of Dilip Singh. Singh was hired on a one-year contract in July 2010 to replace Noam Lotan as chief executive.

Shares of the company, which trade on the Pink Sheets, have dropped about 40 percent in the last few months. Unhappy with the company’s direction, shareholders, including two hedge fund managers, have pushed for changes in board leadership and threatened to launch a proxy war unless the company gets out of some lines of business, returns money to shareholders and takes steps to get relisted on Nasdaq.